Sir: It has become a norm that when a girl reaches the age of 20 she is ready to be married, or earlier depending on which area she belongs to. This is what the backward society of Pakistan prefers to assume. Let us talk about only the urban supposedly modern woman. She goes through the terror of rishta aunties (match makers) who are always in search of new, fresh faces to select for their clients. Even in the most modern households, a girl is hardly ever given the choice of when to get married or who to get married to. Our sexist society fails to take into consideration what the girl herself wants. This results in an increase in divorces, marital problems, verbal and physical abuse and many more horrors. It is about time that we move away from this backward, ancient thinking and evolve with new traditions and adopt a new way of looking at things. AREEJ FATIMA NAQVIKarachi